Rail-joint.



W. H. WILTSHIRB.

RAIL JOINT.

APPLICATION `FILED MAY 11, 1911` Patented May 28, 1912.

wlmfssfs 2% ATTORNEYS RAIL-JOINT.

Speccation of Letters Patent.

Application led May 11, 1911.

Patented May 28,1912. serial No. 626,416.

To all whom 'it may concerter Be it known that I, AVILLIAM H. WILT-sHIRn, a citizen of the United States, and a resident of Gillespieville,in the county of Ross and State of Ohio, have invented a new andImproved Rail-Joint, of which the following is a full,l clear, and exactdescription. f

My invention is an improvement in rail joints, and the object thereof isto provide a construction of this type which will enable the ends of therails to be slipped together,

one on the other, to make a rigid connection, and at the same time keepthe top surface ofthe rail practically continuous. The joint isself-supporting, and provision for contraction and expansion of therails is made by means of elongated holes in the ends of the rail andthe plates used on the sides of the joint,so as to allow for relativemovement of the ends of the rail, according to changes of thetemperature at various seasons of the year.

Reference is to be had to the accompanying drawings forming a part ofthis specilication, in which the same characters of reference indicatethe same parts in all the views.

Figure 1 is a perspective view of my improved rail joint, showing thesame finished; Fig. 2 is a longitudinal horizontal sectional view of thesame; Fig. 3 is a transverse vertical sectional view thereof taken onthe line 3 3 of Fig. 2; Fig. 4 is a perspective view of one end of therail shaped to form my improved joint; and Fig. 5 is a bottom plan,showing the manner in which the ends of t-he bases of two adjacent railsare tted together.

On the drawings, the numerals 1 and 2 indicate two rails which arejoined together at their adjacent ends by my improved rail joint, andt-he ends of these rails are given an especial shape to provide a jointor connection of the kind desired. For this purpose the webs of therails l and 2 are thickened at the meeting ends of these rails, as shownat 4, and the web and the ball of each of these rails are rabbeted asshown at 6. The base of the rail is also rabbeted, as shown at 7 but noton the same lines as the webs and the tops of the rails 1 and 2, asshown in Figs. 4 and 5, that is to say, the webs 3 and the tops of therails 1 and 2 are simply cut transversely and then longitudinally toform a plain rabbet joint; while the bases of the rails 1 and 2 arefirst cut straight across as shown at 8, then longitudinally as shown at9, then straight across again as shown at 10, for a shorter distance,and then diagonally as shown at 14, the surfaces 11, 12 and 13corresponding to the surfaces 8, 9 and 10, respectively. Thecorrespondingly-formed ends of the bases 5 of the ends 1 and 2 willtherefore match together when the joint is made up, and a part of thebase 5 of the rail 1 will form a `ledge 7 beneath the corner of therabbeted portion of the top and web of the rail 1, so that the end ofthe top and web of the rail 2 when matched against the end of the raill, will rest upon this ledge 7 and keep the ends of the rails 1 and 2 inthe same horizontal plane. In this way all liability of one of the railsat the joint ever being lower than the other rail is avoided. Therabbeted meeting ends of the rails 1 and 2 after being tted together areheld in place by means of sh plates 15, which have holes therethrough toregister with holes 16, 17 and 18 in the ends of the rails. The holes 18are somewhat elongated; and bolts 19 are passed through the webs of therails 1 and 2 at the joint to hold the joint and the plates together.The elongated apertures 18 are located toward the outer extremity of therabbeted ends of the rails 1 and 2, and the shape of these openings orbolt holes will allow for a certain `amount of relative motion of therails 1 and 2, to allow for such contraction and expansion as alwaystakes place along a line of track.

It will be observed that with a rail joint constructed as abovedescribed, the ends of the rail will lit snugly together, and the top orball of t-he rail will form a flat continuous surface. At the same time,the ledge 7 will keep both meeting ends of the rails on the same level,making a self-supporting joint.

Having thus described my invention, I claim as new and desire to secureby Letters Patent:

1. In a rail joint, the combination of a rail having a base, the end ofwhich is cut on each side of the rail transversely, then longitudinallya-nd then transversely for a short distance, the end of said base thenbeing cut to form a vertical diagonal surface uniting said last-namedcross-cut surfaces.

2. A rail joint comprising a pair of rails having thickened webs at themeeting ends thereof, said Webs being rabbeted and having a plurality ofperforations formed through their rabbeted portions, the perfo rationsadjacent the extremities of said rabbeted portions being elongated, apair of fish plates for each side of said rail joint, one of said fishplates on each side overlap ping the meeting ends of said rabbetedportions, and fastening means passing through said fish plates and saidperforations in said Webs to hold the meeting ends of the rails with thefish plates thereon together, the said elongated openings and thearrangement of the fish lates permitting of relative movement of therails, to provide for the expansion and contraction thereof.

3. In a rail joint, t-he combination of a rail having a thickened Webportion at one end, said thickened web portion and the top of the railbeing rabbeted, said rabbeted portion comprising transverse andlongitudinal surfaces, the base of said rail also being rabbeted bybeing cut on each side thereof transversely, then longitudinally, thentransversely for a short distance, and then cut to form a continuousdiagonal surface unit-ing said last-named cross-cut surfaces, the saiddiagonal surface being so located that its upper edge Will intersectWith thelovver edge of the longitudinal surface of the rabbeted portionof the Web and top of the rail to form a supporting ledge adjacent thecorner of the rabbeted extremity of the Web and top of the rail.

4L. A rail joint comprising a pair of rails having the Webs thereofrabbeted, said Webs each having a plurality' of perforations formedthrough their rabbeted portions, the perforations adjacent theextremities of said rabbeted portions being elongated, a pair of fishplates for each side of said rail joint,

one of said fish plates on each side over-V lapping the meeting ends ofsaid rabbeted portions, and fastening .means passing through said fishplates and said perforations in said Webs to hold the meeting ends ofthe rails with the fish plates thereon together, the said elongatedopenings and the arrangement of the fish plates permitting relativemovement of the rails, to provide for the expansion and contractionthereof.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification in thepresence of two subscribing Witnesses.

VILLIAM H. IVILTSHIRE. Iitnessesz ROBT. O. FRANCIS, WVM. H. PINKERTON.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for ve cents each, by addressingthe Commissioner of Patents. Washington, D. C.

